Carnival reveals look of massive ship coming to Port Canaveral as first steel is cut

Carnival Cruise Line revealed the look of its new class of ship that is coming to Port Canaveral. (Images courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line)

Carnival Cruise Line is now in the building phase for the new class of ship coming to Port Canaveral, and a new rendering shows what the ship will look like when it arrives.

The first steel was cut at Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland for the unnamed ship that the cruise line is calling its XL class of ships. When complete, the 1,130-foot-long, 180,000-ton vessel will dwarf the lines’ current spate of largest ships, Carnival Vista and Horizon, which are 133,500 gross tons.

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“This new ship promises to be truly special, from its groundbreaking technology and one-of-a-kind features to its distinctive livery and hull design that is both timeless and forward-thinking while paying tribute to our nearly 50-year history of making wonderful vacation memories for our guests,” said cruise line President Christine Duffy in a press release.

The first steel was cut for the Carnival XL class ship in Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland. The ship will debut in 2020 and make its way to Port Canaveral. (Carnival Cruise Line)

The new class of ship will run on liquefied natural gas and make its first North American home in Port Canaveral. LNG-powered ships are a cleaner burning fuel than what current ships use, and part of an industry-wide move touted as more environmentally sound, but also more efficient for the cruise line.

Duffy said they plan to reveal the name of the ship in early December, and its itineraries in January 2019. Details about what exactly will be on board won’t be rolled out until later in 2019. A second XL-class ship will begin construction in 2020 to be finished in 2022.

This rendering shows the livery and hull design for the Carnival XL class of ship. The cruise line revealed the look as the first steel was cut for the yet-to-be-named vessel that will arrive in 2020. (Carnival Cruise Line)

As far as the livery, or paint job for the hull of the ship, the look is much more colorful than most, sporting a navy blue, wave shaped design on the bow while the signature red funnel and other red highlights keep the brand in line with the rest of the fleet.

While not quite as big as Royal Caribbean’s four Oasis-class ships, which surpass 225,000 tons each, the two new Carnival ships will be able to carry 5,200 guests at double occupancy. Carnival Horizon, which just debuted in Miami in September, has a capacity of 3,960 at double capacity. As a comparison, Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas, which also just arrived in Miami, and is currently the largest cruise ship in the world, can hold 5,518 passengers at double capacity.

Carnival currently has 26 ships at sea, but has not used the Finnish shipyard in 14 years. Meyer Turku, though, did build all of Carnival’s eight Fantasy-class ships and four Spirit-class ships.

“We are extremely pleased to work together with Carnival on this large and highly innovative ship,” said Meyer Turku CEO Jan Meyer. “With the first steel cutting, our efforts in designing the hull, features and interior of the ship start to take shape. We are also very proud to build the first-ever LNG powered cruise ship for North American market, making this state-of-the-art green technology a reality.”

When the ship arrives to Port Canaveral in 2020, it will be joined by another “new” ship, Carnival Radiance, which is actually the new name for Carnival Victory when it undergoes a $200 million dry dock.

The cruise line normally sails three ships out of Port Canaveral. The LNG-ship’s presence will be another significant passenger bump for the port, which in the last two years has hosts Oasis of the Seas as well as the massive Norwegian Epic.

The port, which is home to as many as nine ships during parts of the year, saw a record number of passengers in the last fiscal year, surpassing 4.5 million through September 30.